If Reelected, Bush to Cut Domestic Programs Pre…
If Reelected, Bush to Cut Domestic Programs
President Bush gave American’s one more reason to oust him from the White House on Thursday when he announced that if reelected “his budget for 2006 may include spending cuts for virtually all agencies in charge of domestic programs, including education, homeland security and others.” In an article from the Washington Post entitled
2006 Cuts In Domestic Spending On Table, Jonathan Weisman quotes a May 19 White House memo entitled “Planning Guidance for the FY 2006 Budget,” which outlines proposed cuts to programs that Bush is promoting in his campaign such as education, head start, and job training. It is simply amazing that this administration can consistently say one thing and do another, yet assume they can get away with it.
Newsweek Weighs In Reading this piece I felt as…
Newsweek Weighs In
Reading this piece I felt as though Eleanor Clift was speaking directly to me, trying to put me at ease for feeling a bit conspiratorial with my comments earlier today regarding Ashcroft’s terror warnings.
You don’t have to be ultra-cynical to suspect the timing of Ashcroft’s dire pronouncements. Bush is in a jam over Iraq, and the exit strategy is changing the subject, or at least broadening it from Iraq to the wider world of terror, where Bush clings to a narrow lead over Kerry in voter confidence.
Thank you Eleanor. She goes on to make a good case for how Senator Kerry comes out on top on the issue of who can better protect this nation in these difficult times. Quoting a GOP strategist not working for the White House,
“The whole point of fighting them over there is so we wouldn’t have to fight them here,” says the GOP strategist. “Are we really safer? Ashcroft seems to be saying no.” Bush has staked his claim to re-election on the premise that he has made America safer. Kerry bided his time, but for the first time this week he made the case in a sober, convincing way that he could be trusted to succeed where Bush has failed.
Found this pic at the website for the band "The Co…
Found this pic at the website for the band “The Compassionate Conservatives.” Great pic but even better music! 
Pulling a Rove or Anatomy of a Lie CBS News is …
Pulling a Rove or Anatomy of a Lie
CBS News is reporting that it is likely that Ashcroft’s “clear and present danger” speech yesterday was politically motivated. Homeland Security Secretary Ridge came out and all but denied any increased threat. So why would Ashcroft say these things? Spin of course. First Ashcroft draws a not-so-vauge correlation between the Madrid bombing and a potential attack here,
“The Madrid railway bombings were perceived by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to have advanced their cause,” said Ashcroft.
“Al-Qaeda may perceive that a large-scale attack in the United States this summer or fall would lead to similar consequences.”
So sayeth the shepherd, so sayeth the flock:
We know that the terrorists … are attempting to influence the elections in November,” Gibbons told The Associated Press. “Our sources and information tell us that the al-Qaida network is trying desperately.” –Rep. Jim Gibbons (R) NV
“I promise you this: if George Bush loses the election, Osama bib Laden wins the election. It’s that simple. It will be interpreted that way by enemies of the United States around the world.” –Rep. Tom Cole (R) OK
So, a vote for Kerry is a vote for Bin Laden? Do these guys know how transparent they are?
Goat by Thomas Burns Republished with the pe…
Goat
by Thomas Burns
Republished with the permission of Thomas Burns.
Our True Enemy Every day blowhard neo-conservat…
Our True Enemy
Every day blowhard neo-conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Jim Quinn, suck up our air waves with rants about how “Liberals” (you know, people like me who supposedly hate America and hate freedom) are politicizing the war for personal gain. Now my wife would call this projecting but I am not a psychologist so I simply call it bulls@#! propoganda. It is fine for them to rail on and on about the pResident’s so called national security strengths but if anyone points out that these strengths are in fact a farce then they attack their patriotism, or worse their credibility.
These are the same people who, day in and day out, play on the deepest, darkest fears and anxieties of otherwise good people, twisting those anxieties into visceral emotions geared toward engendering xenophobia and furthering their imperialistic agenda’s. If you doubt this just have a look at any one of their websites. Both Savage and Quinn have posted the video of Nick Berg’s beheading claiming it is their patriotic duty to do so. Savage’s site proclaims,
THE FOLLOWING VIDEO IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. HOWEVER, WE FEEL IT IS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE IT TO YOU IN ORDER TO SHOW YOU WHO THE ENEMY REALLY IS AND WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF.
Necessary? Is this some kind of sick joke? They may as well be posting child pornography and saying it is necessary to do so in order to show us how horrible it is, and these are the same people advertising their piety and morality. If you want to know who the enemy of America is you need look no further then to the top of this message, Goebbels would be proud.
Al Gore Delivers Incredible Speech I just finis…
Al Gore Delivers Incredible Speech
I just finished watching Al Gore’s foreign policy speech sponsored by Moveon.org and NYU on CSPAN, the text of which is available here, and I have to tell you it was the most comprehensive, passionate, honest, searing attack on this administration as has been given to date. Here is a taste:
It is therefore essential that even as we focus on the fateful choice, the voters must make this November that we simultaneously search for ways to sharply reduce the extraordinary danger that we face with the current leadership team in place. It is for that reason that I am calling today for Republicans as well as Democrats to join me in asking for the immediate resignations of those immediately below George Bush and Dick Cheney who are most responsible for creating the catastrophe that we are facing in Iraq.We simply cannot afford to further increase the risk to our country with more blunders by this team. Donald Rumsfeld, as the chief architect of the war plan, should resign today. His deputies Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and his intelligence chief Stephen Cambone should also resign. The nation is especially at risk every single day that Rumsfeld remains as Secretary of Defense.
Condoleeza Rice, who has badly mishandled the coordination of national security policy, should also resign immediately.
You go Al!
Some numbers to think about… The Federal Budg…
Some numbers to think about…
The Federal Budget is Released: In Defense vs. Domestic, Defense Wins
The Bush Administration released its budget on April 9, although the details on military spending will not be available for at least another month. While overall discretionary spending will rise $25.7 billion, the Pentagon will receive $14.2 billion or 55 percent of the increase.
While the Pentagon is a budget winner, many domestic discretionary programs suffer funding cuts:
- $189 million from Higher Education
- $541 million from Training and Employment Services
- $1.026 billion from Law Enforcement Assistance, Community Policing and other justice programs
- $223 million from Small and Minority Business Assistance (31%)
- $227 million from disaster relief
- $109 million from Small Business Administration disaster loans (59%)
- $338 million from Energy Supply programs
- $354.1 million from clean up programs at former defense sites
- $756 million from Water Resources programs including flood prevention efforts
- $498 million from Pollution control and abatement programs
- $1.23 billion from Conservation and Land Management programs
- $144 million from Animal and Plant Inspection program
Chickenhawk n. A person enthusiastic about war…
Chickenhawk
n. A person enthusiastic about war, provided someone else fights it; particularly when that enthusiasm is undimmed by personal experience with war; most emphatically when that lack of experience came in spite of ample opportunity in that person’s youth.
Check out the Chickenhawks database courtesy of the New Hampshire Gazette, “The Nations Oldest Newspaper.”
Election Fraud 2004 Style In her post Thursday …
Election Fraud 2004 Style
In her post Thursday May 20, Bev Harris of Blackboxvoting.org, uncovers plans underway to steal votes in Ohio. If you are not already aware, the state of Ohio is prepared to use Diebold electronic voting machines, the ones that produce no paper records and have been banned in California. This is the same company whose CEO Walden O’Dell was quoted at an Ohio Republican fund-raising event as saying that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.”
Ann Coulter is an Eeeediot! If You Can’t Say So…
Ann Coulter is an Eeeediot!
If You Can’t Say Something Nice… by Michael Haddock - Democratic Underground
Simply…well put.
Get the Flock Outta Here! WorldNetDaily: Christ…
Get the Flock Outta Here!
WorldNetDaily: Christians look to form ‘new nation’ within U.S.
Upon further inspection of the WorldNetDaily’s website I found this juicy tidbit.
Calling the approval of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” a group of Christian activists is in the beginning stages of an effort to have one state secede from the United States to become its own sovereign nation.
100 Mistakes for the pResident to Choose From I…
100 Mistakes for the pResident to Choose From
In light of tonights press conference I would like to remind everyone of the last one. You may recall that when Bush was asked what mistakes he had made he could not muster a single one? The Center for American Progress put together this excellent listing of 100 Mistakes for the pResident to Choose From. A few highlights include:
#11. Trusting Ahmed Chalabi, who has dismissed faulty intelligence he provided the President as necessary for getting the Americans to topple Saddam.#31. Repeatedly ignoring warnings of terrorists planning to use aircraft before 9/11.
#48. Spending $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year to develop new nuclear weapons this year – 50% more in real dollars than the average during the cold war – while shortchanging the troops on body armor.
Bush Outsources Campaign Common Dreams reported…
Bush Outsources Campaign
Common Dreams reported on friday that while the Bush adminsitration is backtracking on the pResident’s comments regarding outsourcing being good for America, they’ve been putting their money where their mouths are by outsourcing their campaign activites. This is not new information, WorldNetDaily reported on it back in August of 2003.
Following the trend of major corporations across the country, the Republican Party is outsourcing fund-raising jobs to India. The Indian magazine Business Standard reports a team of at least 75 people will man the phones in call centers set up in Noida and Gurgaon, India, as part of a fund-raising blitz. The operators, hired by HCL eServe, a division of HCL Technologies, are required to telephone people in the United States and solicit their support for President George W. Bush and a donation for the Republican cause.
Why don’t they do us all a favor and outsource Bush!
Global Perspectives This morning began just lik…
Global Perspectives
This morning began just like many others, a cup of coffee and a search for news on the internet. Typically I need look no further then the daily email briefing I receive from The Washington Post and a scan of the Google News page. Yet this morning did not seem to produce anything that sparked my interest so I did what invariably comes next, I paid a visit to this little gem of a website which has held an important position in my bookmarks for nearly a decade, Newspapers of the World: on the internet.
I am certainly a typical American in that I can only speak English so I scan through the list looking for those papers which profess to carry an English language version. Today I scanned Europe; Albanian Daily News, The Daily Herald (France), The Guardian (UK), and then found one…The Moscow Times. Now I have no idea what the reputation of the paper is but it can’t be much worse then my local “state-run” paper, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The author seems to reflect all the things we hear about how the rest of the world perceives America:
For despite all the grandiose political rhetoric and world-historical perturbations emanating from the Bush Regime’s imperial project, we should never lose sight of one simple fact: Deep down, these guys are nothing but cheap hoods, two-bit chiselers hustling for loot, thug-brained goons with no more grandeur about them than the meanest pack of Mafia knee-breakers. For them, statecraft is just a crowbar for bashing heads and jimmying open lockboxes.
A close look at the article, aptly entitled “Goon Squad“, shows a slightly angry yet well annotated piece about the efforts of the US to secure operational control over Iraq for the foreseeable future:
Bremer has placed U.S.-appointed “commissions” made up of Americans and local puppets throughout Iraqi government agencies; the ministers supposedly in charge weren’t even told of the edicts. These boards “will serve multiyear terms and have significant authority to run criminal investigations, award contracts, direct troops and subpoena citizens,” the Journal reports. Any new Iraqi government “will have little control over its armed forces, lack the ability to make or change laws and be unable to make major decisions within specific ministries without tacit U.S. approval, say U.S. officials.”
Artillery by Thomas Burns Republished with t…
Artillery
by Thomas Burns
Republished with the permission of Thomas Burns.
Shell Game Now I have seen it all. In today’s e…
Shell Game
Now I have seen it all. In today’s edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Dateline DC attempts to put the blame for Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaida on the Russians. In short, this person claims that with the collapse of the Soviet Union the Russians wanted to exact revenge on the US and subsequently were behind the growth of Islamic terrorism.
The activities of the FSB show that they, and thousands of former KGB officers and Communist Party officials, want lasting revenge for their defeat in the Cold War. They also want to dominate world resources and markets, while maintaining the corrupt affluence of their oligarchs. The United States remains the “main enemy,” and what better way than terrorism to damage our country.
This looks to me like a clear attempt by the GOP to shift the focus of the war on terror to an enemy that American’s remember all too well. Unfortunately it is a farce, Osama Bin Laden was not a KGB (FSB) plant, he was hired by the CIA in their effort to disrupt the Soviets in their decade long war in Afghanistan. I guess we should not be surprised though considering that the pResident was on Capital Hill yesterday trying to formulate a plan with Congressional Republicans for how to deal with the latest barrage of bad news about their war. I wouldn’t be surprised if Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, Barry Scheck and the crew were not there as well helping them to formulate this plan. “Could it have been drug smugglers? Maybe Aliens? No, no, how about the Soviets!”